IL has hospitals playing ’balancing game’ with late money

Illinois state officials surprised hospital leaders last week by delivering a few million dollars in Medicaid reimbursement funds, though Illinois is still far behind in paying the bills owed to the health care providers. Hospitals belong to the long list of groups owed money across the state because Illinois is delaying payments to the organizations, in part to avoid dealing with a multibillion-dollar deficit. Groups in Winnebago County, including schools and nonprofit agencies, were owed more than $42 million as of early September, according to the Illinois comptroller's office. Overall, the state's backlog of bills hovered around $3.8 billion at the end of September.